zackquaderer

[zackquaderer]

Weekly Recap - Week 1

Introduction:

Hello! My name is Zack. I am 24 years old and live in Minnesota. This last year has been a very exciting one for me as I found a passion in Health and Fitness and have been diving deeper and deeper into as the year has gone on. I wanted to create a blog to tell the story of what is going on in my life and document the journey to becoming a better me.

Age: 24

Height: 5 feet 9 inches

Weight: 152 lbs

The Gym:

When I first started weightlifting I didn’t really have a set goal, I just wanted to put on as much muscle as possible. At the beginning of this year I set a new goal for myself, I want to get strong. My intent is to get my squat, deadlift, and bench press max over 300 lbs by the end of 2018. This is going to be a huge challenge because I have only ever gone up to 225 lbs on all three lifts. If I keep my focus and dedication I should be able to achieve my goal. Right now I am following the stronglifts 5x5 routine. I have heard amazing things about it and as of now I have already seen quite a bit of progress. When I started a few weeks ago I started the 3 lifts mentioned above at 135 lbs as a working weight. This quickly got changed as it was much too easy. On Friday 2/9/18 my working weights (5 sets of 5 reps with 90 seconds in between sets) were, squats - 180 lbs, Overhead Press - 75 lbs, Deadlift - 180 lbs (these are only one set of 5 reps), Bench Press - 165 lbs, and Bent over row 95 lbs. See last two completed workouts below. So far I am having a lot of fun with this workout as the progress is insanely fast and definitely makes me feel like I will be able to hit my goals this year.

Workout A (2/7/18): 

Squat - 175 lbs 5 sets of 5 reps 

Bench Press - 165 lbs 5 sets of 5 reps

Barbell Row - 95 lbs 5 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips - Body weight + 25 lbs 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Push ups - Body weight + 10 lbs 3 sets of 5 reps

Standing Calf Raises - 95 lbs 2 sets of 8 reps

Planks - 3 sets of 50 second hold

Workout B (2/9/18)

Squat - 180 lbs 5 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press - 75 lbs 5 sets of 5 reps

Deadlift - 180 lbs 1 set of 5 reps

Weighted Pull ups - Body weight + 10 lbs 3 sets of 5 reps

Barbell Curls - 65 lbs 2 sets of 8 reps

Hanging Knee Raises - 2 sets of 8 reps

Diet:

Right now I am trying to eat every three hours or so. This is likely to change in the near future but I will get into that later. As it is now I eat three main meals and two large snacks everyday. I have been slacking on keep track of my macros and as a result my percentages have been really crazy the last couple weeks. I never really noticed this until I was looking back getting ready to write this. Going into this week though I have set my macros at about 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbs. I will be consuming somewhere around 2200 calories a day. As I am writing this I feel really absurd about my previous couple weeks. I really didn’t realize how out of whack things were. Facepalm. I usually stay right around the 2200-2400 calorie range and so far my body weight has not changed much although my physique definitely has. I may cut calories down a little bit as I would like to burn off some more body fat but I am not sure yet. I also want to start doing intermittent fasting to see how that feels and how my body reacts. I have heard of / read about a lot of really great health benefits and honestly I don’t like having to set time aside to eat every three hours. It gets to be a little much. I think I am going to start easing into fasting this week by trying to create a 14 hr fasting period every day. My plan is to have my last meal at 6:30 pm and not have breakfast until the next morning at 8:30 am. I am hoping to get to a 16 or 18 hr fasting period if all works well!

Here are a list of the recipes I am using this week. 

Breakfast: Zucchini Lentil Breakfast Burritos

https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/zucchini-lentil-breakfast-burritos-make-ahead/

Snack: Honey Sriracha Glazed Meatballs

http://www.eatyourselfskinny.com/honey-sriracha-glazed-meatballs/

Lunch: Dairy-Free Chicken Zasta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzSkqBWOpOE

Snack: 1.5 Scoops of Amplified Wheybolic Extreme Protein Powder

Dinner: Korean Beef Bowl

https://damndelicious.net/2017/04/21/korean-beef-bowl-meal-prep/

Content:

In my journey to getting stronger and healthier I try to emerge myself in content that will help me learn. Below I will list some of the content that I have been exploring in the past week.

Ben Greenfield Fitness:

I listen to his podcasts on spotify as they come out and frequent his site. He is a fantastic content creator and super knowledgeable. I would highly recommend checking out his site/podcast.

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/

Crust It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion 

This book was written by Gary Vaynerchuk and gives a lot of good insight and advice on entrepreneurship and just going after your dreams/passions. I listened to the book on audible and would highly recommend it to everyone. 

Fat for Fuel: A Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power, and Increase Your Energy

This book is written by Dr. Joesph Mercola who I found out about because he was on the Ben Greenfield Podcast. This book is very interesting and takes a deep dive into how the food you eat affects your body and how it can be used to prevent/fight diseases, cancer, and health issues that may happen. I am nearly complete with this audio book and have to say that it is a tough one. It is extremely informational and the writing is done very well but it is definitely above my knowledge level and there is a lot of information that I have to research on the side to make sense of it all.

Life and What Not:

This last week has been a good one. I have felt very Productive and gotten quite a bit done around my house and fitness wise. I am considering going back to school to get a diploma in Sport and Exercises Sciences. This is a big decision as it has absolutely nothing to do with my current career in Information Technology. 

In other news I also bought a new mattress this weekend. I am super pumped for this because I can finally get rid of the tiny bed I have had since I was a kid! Hopefully this will lead to me getting better night sleep as I usually wake up multiple times through the night. 

Conclusion:

Thank you if you have made it this far! I plan on doing one of these every week and possible some smaller things throughout the week as I have time or something to write about. I am extremely open to any questions or advice that people have to offer and would love to talk to more people who share similar goals to me. If you want to see more day to day stuff of what I am doing please follow me on instagram as I try to post something daily. IG: zackquaderer  Thanks again! Much love!